Women

The women’s suffrage movement and the feminist movement in American were early steps toward gender equality and access to the workplace and education. But today women still face violence, discrimination, and institutional barriers in their struggle toward equal participation in society.

Institutional biases limit opportunities for women in the workplace via policies that exclude women from certain job sectors and penalize them for becoming pregnant or raising children. These translate to gross disparities between men’s and women’s income, wealth, and economic security.

Additionally the overwhelming institutional biases against gender-based violence survivors are a constant reminder that living safely and with dignity is not always an option for women.

Moves by the GOP in recent years, to limit abortion rights and reproductive healthcare of all forms, threaten to take women’s sovereignty over their own bodies out of their hands.

This page, and it’s subpages, will track the actions and statements of Trump relative to women.

Trump is fined 200,000$ by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement for not allowing blacks or women onto his casino floor while personal friend and racist Mafia leader is gambling.yahoo.com(See also Criminality, Racism, Sexism, Black Americans)

Trump again praises Planned Parenthood's work to help millions of women, but says the organization will not get federal funding, if he's elected, as long as abortions are being done.cnn.com(See also Planned Parenthood, Health Care)

2016.03.13

Trump says women who seek abortions should be subject to "some form of punishment" if the procedure is banned in the United States. He later recanted after intense criticism.nytimes.com(See also Planned Parenthood, Health Care)

2016.08.02

Eric Trump builds on a comment by his father that Ivanka Trump, claiming that his sister would not allow herself to be sexually assaulted because she is a "strong, powerful woman"theguardian.com(See also Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump)

He implies that victims of sexual assault in the workplace are weak and "allow" the assault.

Trump starts off Sexual Assault Prevention Month by defending Bill O'Reilly after he paid 5 women $13 million for agreeing not to file lawsuits or speak publicly about allegations that he sexually harassed them.vox.com(See also Misogyny, First 100 Days)

Six teenage Afghan female inventors have been rejected by the US for a one-week travel visa to escort their robot to the inaugural FIRST Global Challenge – an international robotics competition happening in Washington DC in mid-July.forbes.com(See also Muslim Immigration Ban, Foreign Policy)

2017.06.29

The Trump administration has appointed an activist who led a campaign to restrict bathroom access for transgender students to the office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the US Agency for International Development.buzzfeed.com(See also LGBTQIA, False Statements)

2017.07.05

The pay gap between male and female White House staffers has more than tripled in the first year of the Trump administration.washingtonpost.com(See also Misogyny)

The median female White House employee is drawing a salary of $72,650 in 2017, compared to the median male salary of $115,000, or 63 cents on the dollar.

2017.07.20

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Kentucky lawyer John Bush to a lifetime federal appeals court seat, despite his political blogging where he wrote that the “two greatest tragedies in our country” were slavery and abortion.buzzfeed.com(See also Legal Issues, Supreme Court)

2017.08.11

The Trump administration has abruptly cut short grant programs aimed at ending teen pregnancy, as an office within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified 81 institutions across the U.S. that the five-year grants they were awarded would end two years sooner than planned.thehill.com(See also Department of Health and Human Services)

2017.08.29

The White House on Tuesday said it will halt a planned Obama-era rule that would have required businesses to begin collecting data about how much they pay workers of different genders, races and ethnic groups, in order to address pay disparity, saying it posed a burden to employers.wsj.com(See also Department of Labor, Misogyny)

2017.09.07

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that her administration would rewrite rules regarding policing campus sexual assault in an effort to protect both the victims and the accused.nytimes.com(See also Betsy DeVos, Department of Education)

2017.10.03

The House passed a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), which would make it a crime to perform or attempt an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of a fine, up to five years in prison or both.thehill.com(See also Health Care)

The new regulation, issued by the Health and Human Services Department, allows a much broader group of employers and insurers to exempt themselves from covering contraceptives such as birth control pills on religious or moral grounds.

2017.10.15

A woman who said Donald Trump groped her has subpoenaed his campaign for documents about “any woman alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately.”buzzfeed.com(See also Legal Issues)

Donald Trump broke with leading Republicans on Tuesday and voiced support for Roy S. Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama who has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers and has seen his campaign’s prospects imperiled.nytimes.com(See also Misogyny)

In a previously unreported comment to the now-defunct Maximum Golf magazine, Donald Trump singled out a “young socialite” at his club at Mar-a-Lago by telling a reporter, “there is nothing in the world like first-rate pussy.”thedailybeast.com(See also Misogyny, Unpresidential Behavior)

Donald Trump's lawyers argued Tuesday that he's too busy to participate in a defamation lawsuit filed against him in New York state court — but the lawyer for the woman suing him confirmed that she could interview him around his golf outings while he's at Mar-a-Lago.buzzfeed.com(See also Misogyny, Legal Issues)

2017.12.10

As of December 7 there were 369 women running or planning to run for Congress in 2018, which would be the most women House candidates ever.axios.com(See also Misogyny, Trump Effect)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and two of his Democratic colleagues have suggested that Donald Trump should consider resigning, after a run of sexual-harassment scandals has driven out some members of Congress.washingtonpost.com(See also Misogyny)

2017.12.11

More than 50 female Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives called on Monday for a congressional investigation into allegations by various women of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump.reuters.com(See also Misogyny, Unpresidential Behavior)

2017.12.11

Three of 16 women who have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct spoke out together during a joint press conference hosted in New York City, calling for action from Congress amid the growing #MeToo movement.axios.com(See also Misogyny)

2017.12.12

After Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called on Trump to resign over sexual harassment allegations, Trump attacked her in an early-morning Twitter missive filled with inappropriate sexual innuendo.washingtonpost.com(See also Misogyny, Unpresidential Behavior)

A federal court issued a preliminary injunction on Friday blocking a Trump administration rule on insurance coverage of contraceptives for women, saying the rule contradicts the text of the Affordable Care Act by allowing employers to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage if they have religious or moral objections.nytimes.com(See also Affordable Care Act, Health Care, Legal Issues)

2018.01.08

The White House is considering finding a role for Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump’s first pick for labor secretary, who withdrew his nomination in February after old allegations of domestic abuse resurfaced.politico.com(See also Reversals, Trump Cabinet)

2018.01.12

A lawyer for President Donald Trump arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.wsj.com(See also Unpresidential Behavior)

2018.01.12

After a career intelligence analyst who is an expert in hostage policy revealed that her parents are Korean, Donald Trump turned to an adviser in the room and seemed to suggest her ethnicity should determine her career path, asking why the "pretty Korean lady" isn't negotiating with North Korea on his administration's behalf.nbcnews.com(See also Racism, Unpresidential Behavior)

The Trump administration announced it is rescinding guidance from the Obama administration that made it harder for states to defund Planned Parenthood.thehill.com(See also Reversals, Health Care)

2018.01.19

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it was allowing doctors, nurses and other health care workers to refuse to provide services for people that they object to based on religious beliefs, including abortion, providing contraception, and transgender health concerns.nytimes.com(See also LGBTQIA, Homophobia)

Victims’ rights and women’s rights groups sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, saying that rules that she issued last year to guide campuses on how to manage sexual assault complaints violated federal law and discriminated against accusers.nytimes.com(See also Department of Education, Betsy DeVos, Legal Activity)

Michael D. Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, said on Tuesday that he used his own funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to a pornographic-film actress who had once claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump.nytimes.com(See also Legal Issues, Unpresidential Behavior)

2018.02.19

Donald Trump on Tuesday again denied Rachel Crooks' accusation that he forcibly kissed her when she worked at Trump Tower in 2006.washingtonpost.com(See also Misogyny)

2018.02.21

State Department officials have been ordered to pare back passages in a soon-to-be-released annual report on global human rights that traditionally discuss women’s reproductive rights and discrimination, stripping passages that describe views on family planning, contraceptives, abortion, as well as racial, ethnic, and sexual discrimination.politico.com(See also Rex Tillerson, Department of State)

The move reflects the Tillerson-Trump view of human rights as a low priority in foreign policy.

2018.04.04

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards accused Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner of making an offer that felt like a "bribe" during a meeting back in January 2017.cnn.com(See also Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner)

2018.04.05

Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, oversees the assistance program for the tens of thousands of refugees who still seek shelter in the United States, and he spends much of his time trying to stop those who want an abortion.nytimes.com(See also Misogyny, Immigration, Abortion)

He has instructed his staff to give him a spreadsheet each week that tells him about any unaccompanied minors who have asked for one and how far along they are in their pregnancy.

2018.04.13

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who said she was impregnated by a top Republican fundraiser, Elliott Broidy.wsj.com(See also Legal Activity)

2018.04.15

Donald Trump asked a federal judge Sunday night to allow him to review documents that FBI agents seized from the office of his longtime lawyer before criminal investigators have a chance to see the material.washingtonpost.com(See also Legal Activity, Corruption)

2018.04.15

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign spent more than $1 out of every $5 on attorney fees this year as the president contended with the ongoing special counsel investigation and a new legal challenge from an adult-film star.washingtonpost.com(See also Legal Activity, Trump Business)

A coalition of 19 states led by California filed papers Tuesday in support of efforts to block the Trump administration from reducing access to some family planning programs, which provides some 4 million uninsured and under-insured people, including a million Californians, with family planning services.latimes.com(See also Legal Activity)

2018.05.17

Clinics that provide abortions or refer patients to places that do would lose federal funding under a new Trump administration rule that takes direct aim at Planned Parenthood.nytimes.com(See also Health Care)

2018.06.05

A judge ruled that Donald Trump can be deposed in a defamation lawsuit brought last year by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice” who says Trump kissed and groped her after she appeared on the show.politico.com(See also Legal Issues)

2018.06.26

Centers and clinics established to persuade women to continue their pregnancies cannot be required to tell their patients about the availability of state-offered services, including abortion, a divided Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision.washingtonpost.com(See also Supreme Court, hea, Health Care)

2018.06.27

Bill Shine, who was forced out as co-president at Fox News last May for his handling of sexual harassment scandals at the network, is expected to be offered the job of White House communications director, which has been vacant since Hope Hicks left the job in March.nytimes.com(See also Misogyny, Trump Cabinet)

2018.07.05

Donald Trump has hired former Fox News executive Bill Shine to lead his communications team, who was forced out of Fox News in May 2017 over his handling of sexual harassment claims at the company.politico.com(See also Misogyny, Trump Cabinet)

2018.07.05

Donald Trump lobbed personal and derogatory attacks at two Democratic senators, mocked the #MeToo movement and vouched for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia rally ostensibly intended to solidify support for Montana’s Republican Senate candidate.nytimes.com(See also Unpresidential Behavior, Trump Relationship with Russia)

Donald Trump’s real estate company authorized paying $420,000 to lawyer Michael Cohen in his effort to silence women during the presidential campaign and then relied on “sham” invoices from Cohen that concealed the nature of the payments.washingtonpost.com(See also Criminality, Trump Business, 2016 Campaign)

2018.08.21

Michael D. Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, made the extraordinary admission in court that Mr. Trump had directed him to arrange payments to two women during the 2016 campaign to keep them from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had with Mr. Trump.nytimes.com(See also Criminality, 2016 Campaign, Legal Activity)

2018.08.23

Federal prosecutors reached an immunity deal with the tabloid executive David J. Pecker, a key witness in their months-long investigation into payments during the 2016 campaign to two women who said they had affairs with Donald J. Trump, according to two people familiar with the investigation.nytimes.com(See also Legal Activity, 2016 Campaign)

2018.08.29

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is preparing new policies on campus sexual misconduct that would bolster the rights of students accused of assault, harassment or rape, reduce liability for institutions of higher education and encourage schools to provide more support for victims.nytimes.com(See also Betsy DeVos, Department of Education, Criminality)

2018.09.06

As a White House lawyer in the Bush administration, Judge Brett Kavanaugh challenged the accuracy of deeming the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to be “settled law of the land,” in an email.nytimes.com(See also Supreme Court)

The email, written in March 2003, is one of thousands of documents that a lawyer for President George W. Bush turned over to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Supreme Court nominee but deemed “committee confidential,” meaning it could not be made public or discussed by Democrats in questioning him in hearings.

Earlier this summer, Christine Blasey Ford wrote a confidential letter to a senior Democratic lawmaker alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than three decades ago, when they were high school students in suburban Maryland.washingtonpost.com(See also Misogyny, Supreme Court)

The letter, written in crayon, is in the style of something you might see an elementary school kid send to his crush, with “will you be my girlfriend” and boxes marked “yes” and “no.”

2018.09.18

Donald Trump falsely charged that Democrats had sought to time a sexual assault allegation against his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, to obstruct his confirmation.nytimes.com(See also False Statements, Supreme Court)

2018.09.22

Former Donald Trump aide Jason Miller has been accused of secretly administering an "abortion pill" to a woman he got pregnant during an affair, new court documents show.newsweek.com(See also Criminality, Legal Issues)

"Unbeknownst to Jane Doe, the Smoothie contained ﻿an abortion pill. The pill induced an abortion, and Jane Doe wound up in a hospital emergency room, bleeding heavily and nearly went into a coma," the document reads.

2018.09.25

Donald Trump accused Democrats on Tuesday of orchestrating “a con game” against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh in hopes of stopping his confirmation to the Supreme Court and said that one of two women who have accused him of sexual misconduct as a student was “all messed up” and “drunk” at the time.nytimes.com(See also Unpresidential Behavior, Supreme Court)

2018.09.30

The F.B.I. moved to quickly complete an abbreviated investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, even as Democrats demanded more information about the inquiry’s scope, warning that its apparent constraints could make it a “farce.”nytimes.com(See also Supreme Court, False Statements, Fascism)

Donald Trump called Sen. Elizabeth Warren a “complete and total Fraud,” opening a second day of sparring between the current White House occupant and a likely 2020 challenger over her Native American heritage.washingtonpost.com(See also Racism, Misogyny, Unpresidential Behavior)

2018.10.16

Donald Trump referred to the pornographic film actress Stephanie Clifford as “Horseface” in a Twitter post, as he gloated about a recent court ruling in his favor.nytimes.com(See also Misogyny, Legal Activity)

A Florida man who was arrested for allegedly groping a woman aboard a Southwest flight defended himself to authorities by saying that Donald Trump said "it's OK to grab women by their private parts," according to an FBI affidavit.buzzfeednews.com(See also Trump Effect, Misogyny)

2018.11.07

The Trump administration issued a pair of federal rules that allow some employers to deny insurance coverage of birth control on religious or moral grounds, plowing ahead despite a legal and ideological tempest, creating a deep exception to a federal requirement under the Obama-era interpretation of the Affordable Care Act that essential health benefits must include coverage of contraception at no charge to consumers.washingtonpost.com(See also Health Care, Affordable Care Act, Reversals)

2018.11.14

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is set to release a sweeping overhaul of how colleges and universities must handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment, giving new rights to the accused, including the ability to cross-examine their accusers.washingtonpost.com(See also Reversals, Betsy DeVos, Department of Education)

2018.12.13

A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that will prevent businesses and nonprofits from denying birth control coverage on the basis of a religious or moral objection, but has limited the scope of the order to include the five states — California, Maryland, Delaware, New York, and Virginia — that sued to block the rules last year.theslot.jezebel.com(See also Reversals, Legal Activity)

2018.12.13

Donald Trump was the third person in the room in August 2015 when his lawyer Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker discussed ways Pecker could help counter negative stories about Trump's relationships with women.nbcnews.com(See also Corruption, Criminality, 2016 Campaign, Legal Issues)

As part of a nonprosecution agreement disclosed by federal prosecutors, American Media Inc., the Enquirer's parent company, admitted that "Pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be and their publication avoided."